In the 1960s, Sofia acquired a host of new sports facilities – new stadiums, sports halls, and swimming pools. One of these was the Spartak Swimming Pool – built in 1968 specifically for the World Festival of Youth and Students, when the city was filled with enthusiasm, cultural events and international competitions. The swimming pool quickly became a magnet for swimmers, water polo players and all kinds of sporting competitions – from national to international.

By the mid-1970s, the indoor swimming pools were insufficient to meet the needs of the city’s one million inhabitants. In 1975, work began on an expansion. Under the auspices of Levski Spartak, an outdoor swimming complex was built – a pool on a scale the capital had never seen before.

In 1979, the pool began to open its doors to the general public – on Sundays, with an instructor and a lifeguard on duty – so that the people of Sofia could not only watch the sport but also ‘take the plunge’ themselves. In 1985, ahead of the European Swimming Championships, the entire complex underwent a major refurbishment, largely using state-of-the-art technology for the time.

Today, the Spartak Swimming Pool is not just a swimming pool – it is a whole sporting world: two indoor pools, one outdoor pool, a children’s pool, a diving tower, halls, shops, a place for gatherings and memories. And at the entrance stands a memorial plaque to one of Bulgaria’s most legendary swimmers – Petar Stoychev. The man who swam the English Channel in under 7 hours and won the World Cup in marathon swimming a total of 11 times. He started right here – in the Ivan Vazov neighbourhood, at the Spartak Swimming Pool.